Tracing Your Roots is the series that helps put branches on your family tree.
Sally Magnusson follows the ancestral trail back in time to uncover colourful stories and hidden slices of social history. Resident genealogist Nick Barratt is on hand with tips and inspiration to help you explore your own family's lineage.
Programme details
7 November 2008
Remembrance
In a special Armistice edition of Tracing Your Roots we examine how medals, diaries, letters and photographs can shed light on the lives we want to remember.
Sally and Nick are joined by special guest Sarah Paterson, Family History Librarian at the Imperial War Museum.
Stories in this programme...
Bandsman Erskine Williams
Daphne Jones’ father, Erskine Williams, was a WW1soldier with a difference. As a musician and artist on the Western Front he had an insight into both the horrors and the lighter side of the conflict. It wasn’t until after her father's death in 1951 that Daphne stumbled upon the sketchbooks, diaries and press cuttings that told the story of his unusual military service.
A family link to the Tsar of Russia
It was a photograph of Russian aristocrats wrapped in furs on the deck of a yacht that hinted at Edward Snow’s great-grandfather’s wartime service (see image above). But Edward had no inkling that this clue would lead him to a family brush with the Tsar of Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution.
Postcards home
A suitcase of 350 postcards exchanged between Nic Sidebottom’s grandfather and grandmother during WW1 reveal what it was like to be a young soldier on the Western Front. Nic intends to lift this story right off the page by turning the postcards into an e-book which includes accounts of war time dances and early jazz music.
"Ninety Years of Remembrance" is a BBC campaign which commemorates the ninetieth anniversary of the Armistice with personal stories and accounts from WW1. You can share memories of your relatives by uploading your documents, diaries and photographs on the BBC Remembrance Wall
Tracing Your Roots is the series that helps put branches on your family tree.
